Many organizations have implemented a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) for accessing and managing information directories in a network. LDAP information directories are structured as a tree hierarchy, which includes a root directory, as well as directories for divisions and/or departments within the LDAP organization. The tree hierarchy may also include information about individuals, files, shared resources, etc.
A LDAP directory can be distributed among many servers. Each server can have a replicated version of the entire LDAP directory, which may be synchronized periodically. The LDAP server can receive requests from one or more users and coordinate responses to the user. The type of requests may include requests to read, update, delete, etc., information stored on the LDAP server. The number of requests received from the LDAP server and the order in which the requests are carried out may vary between servers.
Any number of authorized or unauthorized persons may send requests to the LDAP server. The LDAP server may process all requests received or only those requests coming from persons that are authorized to make the request. Authorization may be determined based permissions, which may be set by an administrator. An administrator may also describe a schema for the LDAP, i.e., a way to describe the format and attributes of data in the LDAP server.